Our New Church Consecration

We would like to remind you that the celebration of the Epiphany Divine Liturgy will take place on Wednesday January 5th 2014 at 11.00 am at our new Church.

The address of our Church is as follows:

50 Erie Street, Toronto, ON. M6L 2P9

We hope to see everyone there to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jesus' Blessings

St. Behnam Committee

Intro: “It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of
hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing
before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the
other way.”

These famous lines, which open A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, hint
at the novel’s central tension between love and family, on the one hand, and
oppression and hatred, on the other. The book suggests that good and evil,
wisdom and folly, and light and darkness stand equally matched in their
struggle. The book makes prominent use of “doubles” to get & keep the
reader’s interest.

We have a story in the New Testament
that also uses “doubles”, as it were to teach us an important lesson. Luke
contrasts two sisters, Mary & Martha and their relationship to Jesus on a
particular occasion. I don’t want to say that one did bad and one did good. No,
I would rather say one did that which was “good”, but the other did “better” or
“best”. Read passage.

The focus of our passage today
isn’t that we should not be concerned about household chores. No, it is making
a point about discipleship.

Prop.: Disciples of Christ need
to choose the best over the good in 2012.

I. Choosing the best means being
in the right place (39).

A. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus.

B. Martha went to the kitchen.

The Greek word here (parakathizo)
doesn’t mean to just sit, but sit near. I think it implies that she got as
close to the Lord Jesus as she could possibly get. Sitting at the feet of your
master was the proper place for a disciple to be. Paul said he was brought up
at the “feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3). Luke 8:35 tells us the man whom Jesus
cast demons out of sat at His feet.

II. Choosing the best means
listening to the right voice (39).

A. Mary heard the Words of
Christ.

B. Martha couldn’t hear the Words
of Christ (at least not very well).

While at the feet of Jesus, Mary
“heard His word”. “heard” = The Apostle Luke switches tense of the verb here to
an imperfect tense which means this was a durative or a continual listening
& hearing…. She listened with attentiveness to everything He said, and she
didn’t tire of His voice or of His teaching…

She sat close enough to really
hear what He had to say. It implies that she continued to think about them
after He quit talking.

III. Choosing the best means
setting priorities and watching for distractions (40).

A. Mary’s priority was being close
to Christ.

B. Martha’s priority was serving
Christ and others.

“But Martha was encumbered about
with much serving…” Is serving bad? No, of course not.
“serving” = It is the Greek word diakonias. The feminine form of the word we
translate deacon. She was being a deacon/servant. We are told/commanded that we
should serve one another (Gal. 5:13). So, what Martha did was a “good” thing,
so what was the problem? It simply was NOT the BEST thing to do at this point
in time. We are told that Mary “chose good part” which means decided to do the
“better” or “best” thing…

Mary made a choice = she knew
there was other things that needed to be done, but she purposefully didn’t do
those things. Instead, she went and sat at the feet of Jesus. “good part” =
“better/best part” (depending on what you comparing too). I can’t think of
anything better than for a disciple to be sitting at the feet of Jesus soaking
up every word that He spoke, so I think “best” is the best meaning behind “good
part”. Martha was “careful and troubled” by that which wasn’t best. She could
have “sat at His feet” too. However, she chose to other things instead. She was
busy with good things that needed to be done, just not right then. I have tried
to explain the details of this rather simple story for you today.

You may be wondering why we are
looking at this passage on Jan. 1, 2012. I would hope you would see some
practical application that might apply for you this coming year.

Personal Application:

I will tell you it is a lot easier
to be a Martha than a Mary. At least I find that to be true in my own life. I
am preaching to myself today too! You may think being in the ministry would
make it easy to really live for the Lord, but it doesn’t. There are always what
seems like a billion things to do (sermons to study for, lessons to prepare
for, people to visit, letters to write, questions to answer, phone calls &
emails to make, people to counsel, trips/errands to run, materials to purchase,
messes to clean up, items to repair, sheetrock to hang, etc….). I was told you
can never sit down and watch a football game again without a sermon or some
church thing running through your mind….

In seminary they told us if your
aren’t willing work 70 hours a week we might as well hit the door. You see
“ministry” & “life” can consume your entire life and the life of your
family, whereby the most important things – like your relationship with the
Lord is neglected..

I am going to try to limit how
much time I spend on none essentials at the church…. Even as a pastor, it is
easy to get “cumbered about with much serving” or “careful and troubled” like
Martha and not “sit at the feet of Jesus” like Mary.

General Application:

We need to make 2012 a year in
which we “get close to Christ, sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to His
words”.
We need to make 2012 a year in which we will set priorities in our life that will
put the Lord first and be on watch for anything, even good things that might
distract us from the Lord.

We need this applied in our homes
& private lives:

We need to make our relationship
with the Lord our number ONE priority. We need to be careful not to let
“things”, “people” or “activities” get in the way of sitting at the feet of
Jesus and listening to His words.

I sometimes see Christians who
are busy as “beavers”, “bees” or “ants” or whatever animal you would like to
use as an example. Many Christians are going & doing all of the time, but
are too busy to read God’s Word, pray, Study God’s Word, meditated on God’s
Word, attend a worship services, etc…

Conclusion: Who are your more like: Mary or
Martha? How have your priorities been this past year?

Invitation:
Pray for me, I need to make changes in my life. Maybe you need to reassess your
priorities, or get rid of some of those things that keep you so busy so you can
sit at the feet of Jesus? Maybe your aren’t even sure what changes you need to
make but you know one thing for sure, you have been more like Martha than
Mary….